The Top of the Mountain, Pt. 2: The Plants
Mount Umunhum is not just full of beautiful views. There are also many interesting plants to view while exploring the mountain top. If plants had brains, the smart plants would go to the tops of San Jose mountains to grow. So much sunshine and oxygen.
The word 'Umunhum' means resting place of the humming bird. It is a word from the Ohlone language, which is the language that Native American tribes by the same name, Ohlone. The Ohlone are the people who first inhabited the Bay Area.
It is interesting that the Ohlone word for the resting place of the humming bird has the word hum in it. Whomever first described the humming bird using English and whoever first described a humming bird (or at least their resting place) in Ohlone seem to both be inspired by the buzzing hum that the humming bird makes. It seems like cultures would be more connected by language if we all created words that sounded like what they are describing. Bring on the onomatopoeia's, and bring on the world unity!
I'm not sure if the resting place for hummingbirds is literally where humming birds go to rest before they zip off to drink flower nectar, or if is the final resting place for hummingbirds after they pass. Mountains are the final resting places to many animals. Sometimes even animals you'd never expect to find on top of a mountain, such as whales! There has been more than one mountain where the remains of a whale was discovered. The whale remains are telling the origin stories of the mountains. The land that is now the mountains once was under the sea. But then with the shifting of tectonic plates, mountains were formed. They sprung from the sea and land masses were created. Millions of years later, scientists would find ancient whale remains in the least likely locations. It is just another reason why mountains are so mysterious and beautiful.
Mountains aren't just created, they are destroyed. Some scientists think that monarch butterflies tell a story about a mountain that no longer exists. Monarchs migrate all the way from central Mexico to Canada, following the same route, year after year, for their journey. One butterfly cannot hope to make the full trip on their own. Monarch butterflies start the journey, then lay eggs that hatch, and their babies finish the journey. When the butterflies get to lake Superior, they fly over the lake, then they turn east for a while, before turning back south. Scientists speculate that the reason the butterflies do this is because once there was a mountain there. Generations upon generations ago, the monarchs had to fly east before flying south because the only other option was to fly up, up, up and over a giant mountain.
Mountains are definitely strange an wondrous places that attract magical plants, mysterious animals and curious humans! I'm glad I got to explore the ever-intriguing mountain, Mount Umunhum.